


Princess

by Missy



Category: Alien Series, Aliens (1986)
Genre: Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Memories, Post-Canon, Stargazing, Storytelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 19:17:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12464172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: It's time for Newt to go to bed, but she's a little reluctant to go to sleep.  Ellen to the rescue again.





	Princess

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tish/gifts).



“Newt!” Ripley called from the threshold of the lounge, one arm filled with Jonesy, the other cocked confidently onto her hip. “We’re going to go to sleep in a few hours. What are you looking for in there?!”

“The stars,” said Newt, her small fingertips pointing out at the window. “Can you see them?”

Something soft – dangerously soft – uncurled in Ellen’s chest. She thought of simplicity. Of the earth. Of peace. She knelt down beside Newt and peered into distance. All around them there were beautiful stars – half-formed, burning, twirling in the nothingness. Maybe there was somebody out there tucking their own daughter into bed. Maybe they were keeping their own wolves at bay by placing themselves between the crucible and the angelic. Maybe they had memories they were fighting through, too.

Ripley had long ago gotten used to the sight of those stars, of the fact of space rocketing by her, careening at a frightening pace. It was all business. “Did you look at the stars with the other people who loved you?” The word ‘family’ danced on the tip of Ellen’s tongue like a drop of rain, sliding into warmth, the ether of her throat.

“A long time ago,” Newt said. Her fingertips tightened on the doll that Ellen had had the ship launder. “Before, when I was really little.”

She gently wrapped her free arm around Newt’s shoulders. “I promise you that when we get home,” Ellen said, ”I’ll buy you a telescope. And you can look out at the stars every night if you want to.”

Newt nodded, burrowing comfortably into Ellen’s left shoulder. “Can you tell me a story before I go to sleep?”

It had been a long time since she’d done this – but there was no harm in trying. “Once upon a time,” said Ellen, tucking the girl close to her neck, allowing the lazy Jonesy to occupy her other shoulder, “there was a beautiful princess, who had long, blonde hair…”

It really was like a bizarre fairytale, thought Ellen. But, like in the best fairtytales, she and Newt had endured their knocks and survived. And, like in the best fairytales, after dusk there was dawn.

Everything would be all right in the morning, somehow.


End file.
